Proximo's GTD Setup

Salgud, that's perfectly ok, there is totally nothing wrong with searching for the perfect GTD tool, if that is really the thing you want to do.

Thing is, there is just too many tools out there and many folks who want to get things done just keep looking for the perfect set of features, going through various crazy overcomplicated setups just to fall off the GTD sooner or letar, not really getting anything done. Instead of moving things forward they keept experimenting with features, looking for the perfect tool.

When you're experimenting with a new tool, you are making an investment. You are investing your time and effort to educate yourself on the new tool, hoping that this will pay off in the future, allowing you to become more productive.

What many people don't realize is the power of GTD's mental side and the power of our minds and habits. You really can get more done using basic tools, given you stick to principles: weekly review, reviewing your lists daily and resisting the temptation to break the rules.

What many people don't realize is the power of GTD's mental side and the power of our minds and habits. You really can get more done using basic tools, given you stick to principles: weekly review, reviewing your lists daily and resisting the temptation to break the rules.

So true, it really is more about our habits then anything else. David Allen just recently tweeted (just happened to look at his tweet feed for some reason) about a new book called, ironically, "The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business"...

Here's the tweet:

"Powerful new book just released on understanding habits, from Charles Duhigg (a GTDer BTW)"

There was also a link to the book on Amazon which I won't reproduce here. I picked up the book on my Nook; a very good read, eye opening, especially if you want to understand how change your current habits. (are you even aware of them?)

Salgud, that's perfectly ok, there is totally nothing wrong with searching for the perfect GTD tool, if that is really the thing you want to do.

Glad you approve. :)
As I said, I'm not a GTDer, just looking for the Holy Grail of PIMs.

Thing is, there is just too many tools out there and many folks who want to get things done just keep looking for the perfect set of features, going through various crazy overcomplicated setups just to fall off the GTD sooner or letar, not really getting anything done. Instead of moving things forward they keept experimenting with features, looking for the perfect tool.

When you're experimenting with a new tool, you are making an investment. You are investing your time and effort to educate yourself on the new tool, hoping that this will pay off in the future, allowing you to become more productive.

What many people don't realize is the power of GTD's mental side and the power of our minds and habits. You really can get more done using basic tools, given you stick to principles: weekly review, reviewing your lists daily and resisting the temptation to break the rules.

My goal is different than yours, and that's why I'm not a GTDer. My goal is to enjoy what I do as much as possible. For much of my life I pursued the goal of "efficiency" and the endless quest for saving seconds. At some point, I realized that I was wasting more time trying to save the time it takes to reach-for-the-mouse than I could save in a lifetime of not-reaching-for-the-mouse. I waste far more time doing necessary repetitive things and just hanging out than I'll ever waste reaching-for-the-mouse, so I try to apply Pareto's Law and work on saving time where there are large amounts of time to be saved.

So my search for the Holy Grail of task managers is something I enjoy. I've found, and lost, it a few times. I keep hoping there's another one out there. For now, TD works well for what I'm doing at work, and Things works well for my personal projects.

I guess it all sums up to the fact that I've never heard anyone on their deathbed saying, "I wish I had been more efficient", any more than anyone says, "I wish I had spent more time at the office". I'm old enough that I just want to enjoy the time I have left. YMMV.

I agree with Salgud that playing with this kind of tool is just as good a hobby as any other hobby.

I agree with Ben and Boguszewicz that the mental side of using GTD (or other review-based system) is key to both efficiency and calm.

What is disagree with most in task management systems and in the common usage of these is the overwhelming reliance on dates for everything, and the whole idea of having things pop up automatically right in your face all of a sudden just because of some arbitrary date/time that you had pre-programmed long ago. Sure, there are such things as appointments and meetings that are firmly scheduled. And sure, there are times when you need a timer to remind you about something. But in general I like to have overview of what I have at hand and what will be coming up and what I want to achieve, and have control over which things I allow to appear on my 'hot list' depending both on temporary circumstances and on my overall situation. The best way to attain this calm and control, staying on top of the situation, is through daily, weekly and monthly reviews. Whether you use GTD, DIT, MYN or your own review-based system does not matter all that much. They are all essentially very similar. And conversely, just because someone says they are using this or that, say GTD, is no guarantee that they actually follow a review-based paradigm. Instead, you notice quite frequently even in the forums of highly profiled GTD apps, that a huge part of the users appear to be stuck in their old pre-programming habits. It is just the names of the lists that have changed.

I love Proximo's set-up as it just seems to resonate with how I think. I need this system to become intuitive. I tend to get bogged down perfecting systems and the system becomes overly complicated and then does not work for me and my brain.

I really appreciate everyone's postings in here as it helps me think through my set-up of toodledo for GTD.

I am still in the Processing Phase - probably have abotu 3 more hours but am getting there.

Already feeling less-stressed. I think this process will help me as a person with strategic, big-picture strengths in a highly task driven job right now. I am feeling so much better.

What is disagree with most in task management systems and in the common usage of these is the overwhelming reliance on dates for everything, and the whole idea of having things pop up automatically right in your face all of a sudden just because of some arbitrary date/time that you had pre-programmed long ago.

When your reminder pops up out of nowhere and urges you to stop doing what you do now and start doing something else, that probably means you need to do your reviews more carefully.